I just attended my 5th StrongFirst course – Lucky me! Although my primary occupation is computer-related, I am thoroughly enjoying my strength learning journey and am fortunate to have found the absolute best school of strength and be able to invest in attending it. To say it's been life-changing would be an understatement. So when you find a good thing, keep following it....
This post is a write-up of the course experience, following the tradition of my posts on the previous ones:
SFG Kettlebell Course experience
SF Bodyweight Course experience
SFG1 at The Dome
SFG II experience - Portland, OR, Feb 2017
Here are my notes from this course, the 1-day StrongFirst Lifter (barbell) course in McKinney, TX Apr 30, 2017.
First, a little background on me relative to the barbell. I never touched a barbell in my life until January of 2014. (Here's a funny note, I'm looking back through my logs to see when that was exactly, and I find a note from 1/15/14 that says, "Kettlebell today. Good arm workout." Um... Arm workout??? I had a lot to learn, right? At that time I was a kettlebell beginner, and I was also 13 pounds heavier than I am today with 7 pounds less muscle than I have now. So that's 20 pounds of fat that I no longer carry, even though at the time I was riding 50 mile bike rides and running 3+ miles. So much has changed for the better since those days; in addition to body composition -- movement, posture, breathing, strength, skill, and much more beyond the physical.) Anyway, that session was just one day trying some deadlifts along with a workout buddy. A few months later, Al Ciampa taught me how to deadlift properly with the barbell just before he left here in May 2014. I started with 70 lbs, and after getting the basic form down I was cleared to increase from there. In July - Oct 2014 I participated in CrossFit sessions offered on the base where I work so I got more exposure to the barbell; deadlifts, front and back squats, overhead presses, power cleans, clean and split jerk, and snatches. I've mentioned before that I did learn some good things during that time but I'm very glad that I already I had a little over a year of kettlebell work prior because there's no way my shoulders would have been prepared if I didn't. I'd be among the injured for sure. I ceased the CrossFit activities in Oct 2014 and haven't gone back, although my stance on CF is basically this: 50% good, 50% not so good. I just know that what I'm doing now is far better for me.
Since mid-2014 I have focused mainly on the kettlebell but I have done several deadlift training cycles, slowly increasing to a max that has hovered around 250 lbs for about 2 years now. I always felt I was capable of more, but couldn't find the missing link. This was one of my big objectives in attending the class.
In the last month or so I've started doing barbell back squats again and feel like that's helping with my bike riding, kettlebell practice, and general movement. I realize the barbell is the most powerful and direct tool for building pure strength. But I wanted to be more confident in my form. As for military presses, I had not done any presses with the barbell since 2014.
So back to the class.... The timing and location was good for me, so I signed up and took a quick overnight trip to McKinney, Texas just north of Dallas. Having taken the kettlebell and bodyweight 1-day courses previously, there was no doubt in my mind that it would be work the cost and the trip.
Master SFG Jason Marshall taught the class and was assisted by SFG II/SFL Erlinda Gomez. What a powerhouse of strength and knowledge! We were clearly in good hands. After a quick intro and 5 minutes into the warm-up, with several outstanding cues and concepts imparted during both, I commented to another classmate, “Wow, I feel like I already got my money's worth, and we haven’t even started yet!”
The three modalities of this StrongFirst School of Strength, kettlebell, barbell, and bodyweight, really do have the same fundamentals. And there is something about re-learning them using the different tools that helps reinforce and deepen them. Rooting, bracing, breathing, feed-forward tension -- I learned them again. I learned them better.
After the mobility and warm-up we spent some time with the hardstyle plank and kettelbell deadlift to set the foundation for skills to follow.
The course content: Barbell back squat - low bar and high bar. Military Press. Deadlift, sumo and conventional. Program Design. I won't give away all the content... but suffice to say it was complete.
Each lift and skill was taught and practiced thoroughly.
I had a number of doubts cleared away about how to handle the barbell: the different types of bars, how to hold it for different lifts, how to step in and out of the rack, how to breathe during the lifts, how to use the lifts to help me towards my strength goals.
A number of things I knew already were REALLY effectively re-enforced: feed-forward tension, and bracing the abs. I found that the initial bracing of the abs was my missing link in the deadlift, the thing that was holding me back. Getting into the correct tight hinge position, the back really straight with no lordosis, abs REALLY braced, was what my lower back needed to feel safe with the lifting. At the very end of the day, I lifted a PR of 265 lbs -- that's it there in my current avatar photo. OK, there's no stopping me now! 300 lb DL, I'm coming for you...
The military press was a happy surprise for me. After training to press the 24kg for the SFG II strength test, my press is much stronger than last time I tried to press a barbell. I had either 85 lb or 95 lbs (I forget which) and it was going up fairly easily. Not only that, but the movement felt better due to my much-improved t-spine mobility. The strong platform and initiating the press from deep down, from the lats, really made it feel solid.
My favorite quote from Jason, as we were practicing a 3-second pause at the bottom of the squat, "Stay as tight as possible, like you do in a hardstyle plank -- it’s like an isometric war is happening in your body with the bar." Strength is tension; tension is strength.
I realized once again, just like with the kettelbell and bodyweight skills, it's not about efficiency and finding the way to make the biggest lift. It's about doing it right, making it harder with more tension, getting the most out of your training, and staying SAFE. Bigger numbers come if you focus on these things.
I gained some insight into programming and Jason was really good at clarifying what tends to work for people of different "training ages" (how long they've been strength training) and other variables. I know that learning more about programming could be a lifetime endeavor. In addition to some good programs in the course manual, we got a little taste of PlanStrong programming and how decoupling volume and intensity can be effectively applied.
So.. SFL next? I absolutely plan on it. As with the other classes, a generous discount is applied if you sign up for a cert within a year of taking a 1-day class.
If you have an opportunity to attend any StrongFirst class or cert, obviously I highly recommend it! I hope this course description was beneficial to those who may be considering it.
This post is a write-up of the course experience, following the tradition of my posts on the previous ones:
SFG Kettlebell Course experience
SF Bodyweight Course experience
SFG1 at The Dome
SFG II experience - Portland, OR, Feb 2017
Here are my notes from this course, the 1-day StrongFirst Lifter (barbell) course in McKinney, TX Apr 30, 2017.
First, a little background on me relative to the barbell. I never touched a barbell in my life until January of 2014. (Here's a funny note, I'm looking back through my logs to see when that was exactly, and I find a note from 1/15/14 that says, "Kettlebell today. Good arm workout." Um... Arm workout??? I had a lot to learn, right? At that time I was a kettlebell beginner, and I was also 13 pounds heavier than I am today with 7 pounds less muscle than I have now. So that's 20 pounds of fat that I no longer carry, even though at the time I was riding 50 mile bike rides and running 3+ miles. So much has changed for the better since those days; in addition to body composition -- movement, posture, breathing, strength, skill, and much more beyond the physical.) Anyway, that session was just one day trying some deadlifts along with a workout buddy. A few months later, Al Ciampa taught me how to deadlift properly with the barbell just before he left here in May 2014. I started with 70 lbs, and after getting the basic form down I was cleared to increase from there. In July - Oct 2014 I participated in CrossFit sessions offered on the base where I work so I got more exposure to the barbell; deadlifts, front and back squats, overhead presses, power cleans, clean and split jerk, and snatches. I've mentioned before that I did learn some good things during that time but I'm very glad that I already I had a little over a year of kettlebell work prior because there's no way my shoulders would have been prepared if I didn't. I'd be among the injured for sure. I ceased the CrossFit activities in Oct 2014 and haven't gone back, although my stance on CF is basically this: 50% good, 50% not so good. I just know that what I'm doing now is far better for me.
Since mid-2014 I have focused mainly on the kettlebell but I have done several deadlift training cycles, slowly increasing to a max that has hovered around 250 lbs for about 2 years now. I always felt I was capable of more, but couldn't find the missing link. This was one of my big objectives in attending the class.
In the last month or so I've started doing barbell back squats again and feel like that's helping with my bike riding, kettlebell practice, and general movement. I realize the barbell is the most powerful and direct tool for building pure strength. But I wanted to be more confident in my form. As for military presses, I had not done any presses with the barbell since 2014.
So back to the class.... The timing and location was good for me, so I signed up and took a quick overnight trip to McKinney, Texas just north of Dallas. Having taken the kettlebell and bodyweight 1-day courses previously, there was no doubt in my mind that it would be work the cost and the trip.
Master SFG Jason Marshall taught the class and was assisted by SFG II/SFL Erlinda Gomez. What a powerhouse of strength and knowledge! We were clearly in good hands. After a quick intro and 5 minutes into the warm-up, with several outstanding cues and concepts imparted during both, I commented to another classmate, “Wow, I feel like I already got my money's worth, and we haven’t even started yet!”
The three modalities of this StrongFirst School of Strength, kettlebell, barbell, and bodyweight, really do have the same fundamentals. And there is something about re-learning them using the different tools that helps reinforce and deepen them. Rooting, bracing, breathing, feed-forward tension -- I learned them again. I learned them better.
After the mobility and warm-up we spent some time with the hardstyle plank and kettelbell deadlift to set the foundation for skills to follow.
The course content: Barbell back squat - low bar and high bar. Military Press. Deadlift, sumo and conventional. Program Design. I won't give away all the content... but suffice to say it was complete.
Each lift and skill was taught and practiced thoroughly.
I had a number of doubts cleared away about how to handle the barbell: the different types of bars, how to hold it for different lifts, how to step in and out of the rack, how to breathe during the lifts, how to use the lifts to help me towards my strength goals.
A number of things I knew already were REALLY effectively re-enforced: feed-forward tension, and bracing the abs. I found that the initial bracing of the abs was my missing link in the deadlift, the thing that was holding me back. Getting into the correct tight hinge position, the back really straight with no lordosis, abs REALLY braced, was what my lower back needed to feel safe with the lifting. At the very end of the day, I lifted a PR of 265 lbs -- that's it there in my current avatar photo. OK, there's no stopping me now! 300 lb DL, I'm coming for you...
The military press was a happy surprise for me. After training to press the 24kg for the SFG II strength test, my press is much stronger than last time I tried to press a barbell. I had either 85 lb or 95 lbs (I forget which) and it was going up fairly easily. Not only that, but the movement felt better due to my much-improved t-spine mobility. The strong platform and initiating the press from deep down, from the lats, really made it feel solid.
My favorite quote from Jason, as we were practicing a 3-second pause at the bottom of the squat, "Stay as tight as possible, like you do in a hardstyle plank -- it’s like an isometric war is happening in your body with the bar." Strength is tension; tension is strength.
I realized once again, just like with the kettelbell and bodyweight skills, it's not about efficiency and finding the way to make the biggest lift. It's about doing it right, making it harder with more tension, getting the most out of your training, and staying SAFE. Bigger numbers come if you focus on these things.
I gained some insight into programming and Jason was really good at clarifying what tends to work for people of different "training ages" (how long they've been strength training) and other variables. I know that learning more about programming could be a lifetime endeavor. In addition to some good programs in the course manual, we got a little taste of PlanStrong programming and how decoupling volume and intensity can be effectively applied.
So.. SFL next? I absolutely plan on it. As with the other classes, a generous discount is applied if you sign up for a cert within a year of taking a 1-day class.
If you have an opportunity to attend any StrongFirst class or cert, obviously I highly recommend it! I hope this course description was beneficial to those who may be considering it.
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